For the last part of our road trip through Northern Peru this past summer, we drove from Huamachuco to Chachapoyas. On our way to Chachapoyas we stopped for two nights in Celendin. As with most of the stops on our trip, it was Celendin’s independence day!

After getting settled into our lodging, we took a walk through the town in search of the celebration which we were told included cock fights and bull fights. We never found the cock fighting ring but Roman did climb up a sketchy looking scaffolding to catch a glimpse of a bull fight. This “ring” was literally put up the day before with two-by-fours and nails and was packed to the gills with people.

The next day, we drove out of town and Roman found a pretty fishing spot while Lucy and I relaxed in the shade. We continued our journey north the following morning, stopping in the Leimebamba district to check out a museum with mummies!

El Museo de Leimebamba was a nondescript place that you wouldn’t know was there unless you were looking for it. The artifacts and mummies in the museum were from numerous tombs found in the mountain overlooking Lago del Los Condores. It was very interesting to see but, unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside the museum.

Our destination was Chachapoyas. This town was one of the highlights of our trip for several reasons. First, we stayed at a beautiful hotel in town that was the fanciest place we stayed while in Peru. The owners of the hotel were some of the nicest people we met in Peru and allowed Lucy to stay with us even though they had a “no dogs allowed” policy (once again, Lucy was an ambassador!).

We enjoyed hiking to the Gocta waterfall, once considered the third highest waterfall in the world. It is now regarded as being in fifteenth place due to its multiple drops. The next day we took a drive, culminating in a walk down a path to the Sarcofagos de Karajia. We weren’t expecting to end up there but, for me, it was one of the coolest places we visited on the trip.

After spending three wonderful days exploring the area, we headed for La Balsa to cross the border back into Ecuador and end our three week journey.